Watching Among Them
by Kimby Rulez
Summary: Cara Kray is one mortal who is seriously testing my patience. She's ignorant. She's arrogant. Oh did I mention she's trying to steal my boyfriend/best friend? Typical. I bet Leila and Thalia would help me get rid of her. Nico did offer. Yep. She's a goner. Percy Jackson is definitely mine. One-shots of From the Outside and Insiders Know All in Annabeth's POV written by AnnabethLuna
1. Chapter 1

**Complicated Disclaimer: We do not own any Percy Jackson or anything else that is Rick Riordan owns. I (Kimby) own the "idea" of Leila. _AnnabethLuna_ decided to give Annabeth a little fun. Awesome!**

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I was sitting at the dining room table, calmly eating my breakfast like a normal person – well, as normal as a demigod can be – when Leila started shrieking.

"PERCY! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

With a sigh, I stood up, pushed my hair behind my ear, and washed out my cereal bowl in the sink as Percy came tearing into the room, holding a red plastic bucket. 'You'll never catch me!" he yelled back.

It was obvious what had just happened – though the whole bucket-of-water-over-the-head trick doesn't work quite as well on a child of Poseidon.

Ah, well.

I leaned against the counter, shoulder brushing lightly against Percy's. The dating thing was still new to us, but somehow, it came so much more naturally than anything.

With the clatter of a door banging into a wall, Leila whirled into the kitchen like a tornado. "Percy! You are so dead!"

"This is not my fault – you need to get up earlier." He stored the bucket carefully under the sink and smirked at Leila in that insufferable way he has.

"Whatever," said Leila, glaring, arms crossed over her chest, "but the next time you do that, you _will_ pay."

Nico slid into the room like a professional skater (though the effect was somewhat spoiled by the fact that he almost banged into the counter on the way in), and asked, "What'd I miss?"

Poor Nico stumbled yet again as Leila shoved him away from the refrigerator with unnecessary force. I opened my mouth to make a comment about anger management and not taking her rage out on innocents, but then decided that that would just cause too much trouble that I would then have to deal with, so I closed my mouth again.

"Leila wouldn't get up," taunted Percy, "so I found a very effective way to get her out of bed."

"And by 'effective,'" Leila's glare was something to behold, "he means dumping a bucket of ice water on me."

"Well it worked." I smacked myself in the forehead as Percy threw Leila a cup. "So yeah, it was effective."

Nico snickered, and made things worse by high-fiving Percy. "Dude, you should have warned me – I would have dug out my camera!" I had to admit, her expression must have been priceless. And the video would have made excellent blackmail material. (Athena does always have a plan, though blackmail is only the backup)

"And what would you have done with the video, _Nico_?" The stress on Nico's name suggested that she would like to call him something much stronger.

For once Nico was thinking along the same lines as the Athena cabin. "Blackmail."

"Shut up." Leila drained her orange juice and crossed her arms again. "My bed is soaked!"

I decided to intervene. "Then you should get up earlier." Truthfully, I wouldn't mind if she always slept in; if I could watch something like this every morning, my life would be – never mind. I do not want to deal with this fiasco every morning.

"Traitor." Leila turned her death glare on me.

Unaffected, I shrugged. That glare had been directed at me so many times, it had lost its effect. Just to rub it in, I turned around and pressed my lips to Percy's cheek.

As Nico and Leila made retching noises, I just rolled my eyes and suggested we go.

"Already?" whined Nico. "We have tons of time!"

"Yeah, come on, it's only 7:15," added Leila.

I didn't want to take chances, though – not on the first day of school. "Yes," I said patiently, "but if we get attacked on the way" – always a possibility for demigods of our caliber – "that's really going to make us late if you plan to leave" –

"Fine, whatever," interrupted Leila with a panicked look in her eyes. I've learned that these three have an irrational fear of logic, and that when I get started on explaining something, they all just agree with me to avoid getting into a discussion. I've learned to use this to my advantage.

But as Leila reached out to grab her backpack, Nico stopped her, with a wicked smile on his face. "Oh, no," he said smugly. "We had a bet, remember? You have to carry a purse today since you lost."

Leila and I hate purses. Actually, for the most part, we hate anything girly, but we have an especially passionate hatred reserved just for purses. They're irritating. They cut into your shoulder and affect your normal walk. And you try fighting a monster with one of those abominations swinging around your arm! So making Leila wear a purse was probably the worst punishment she could endure. Short of disembowelment. Actually, I think she'd even prefer disembowelment.

But I decided not to mention that to Nico. Son of Hades, he might just take her up on it.

"You were serious?" Now she was attempting to weasel her way out of the bet, but that wasn't going to fly with Nico.

"Nice try. Go find a purse." Nico was enjoying this far too much.

"I don't own a purse." Did she really think that was going to get her out of it?

A second later, Nico's eyes brightened. "Maybe Annabeth can lend you one."

Was he implying that I would own a purse? Had I not been very clear with my hatred of the wretched things? "You really think I own a purse?"

"It was worth a try," sighed Nico.

Then, a thought struck me – my stepmother, in one of her many phases to try to get me into normal-teenage-girl things that didn't involve slaying monsters or designing temples, had bought me an orange purse, among other things. Most of these things somehow found their way into the garbage can or Goodwill, but I was pretty sure the purse was still stashed in the back of my closet. "Well, actually, I do have an orange one my stepmom gave me . . . I've never used it, though." I had to add that last bit, just so they didn't get the wrong idea.

"You're using that one," ordered Nico, elbowing her for good measure, and Leila just sighed and acquiesced.

But then, an evil gleam not dissimilar to Nico's appeared in her eyes, and she turned to face me. "Annabeth," she said in a singsong voice, "aren't you forgetting something?"

I knew what was coming, and bit back a curse – I'd hoped she had forgotten about that. Just my luck, she hadn't. "What?" I asked, as innocently as I could manage.

"Heels." I wanted to grab the finger pointing at my sneakers and twist it. "You have to wear them."

We hated heels almost as much as we hated purses. They were uncomfortable, irritating, and unnecessarily showy. Luckily, our athletic coordination ensured that we weren't tripping in them all day, making them not as inconvenient. Therefore, they were better than purses, and I was still getting the better end of the deal. That was the only good point in all of this.

"I can't believe you're making me do this," I grumbled, heading to the bedroom with her and slowly pulling off my comfortable shoes. Actually, I could. It was Leila Jackson we were talking about. Of course she was making me do this.

"Hey, I wouldn't be carrying a purse today if it wasn't for you," she said defensively. As if the bet was my fault!

'Trust me, Nico would have found a purse one way or another." With those words, I unearthed the orange one from far, far back in my closet, and handed it to her. She laughed, giving me the pair of heels that the two of us shared.

"Here we go," she taunted. "Aww, they even match your outfit."

Oddly, they actually kind of did – the flowers were in a similar color scheme to my magenta shirt. But I wasn't about to admit that. Instead, I responded with a similar jibe, "Well, so does your purse."

"My orange purse?" Leila looked disgusted. "I am _not_ keeping this thing."

"At least I'm almost as tall as Percy now," I laughed, doing a quick spin in the heels. It had bothered me so much when he went on that random growth spurt and got so much taller than me. I had liked being taller than him.

"That's the spirit," said Leila, still laughing at me. Then she sobered up. "I want something to drink. Want to go to Starbucks since we have so much extra time?"

I grinned. I loved our girls-only Starbucks runs. "Hoping you would say that," I replied. I could go for something."

"No boys."

"Of course not." I smiled back at her.

As she quickly transferred her belongings, I told the boys where we were going and grabbed some money from the jar Sally left out for us for these sorts of excursions. "Ready?" I asked, when Leila had left her room. Her response was a cheeky grin, and together, we headed out of the house.

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**(A/N from Kimby: And so... it begins! Haha hope you guys liked it! I'll post the next one-shot in a few days. Remember to thank _AnnabethLuna_! She wrote Annabeth's POV-NOT me! And she's awesome soooo... THANK HER! Haha!)  
**

**Cafeteria**** scene is definitely next so until next time... ;)**

**Facebook: _Completely Shore_ **


	2. Chapter 2

**Complicated Disclaimer: We do not own any Percy Jackson or anything else that is Rick Riordan owns. I (Kimby) own the "idea" of Leila. **_**AnnabethLuna**_** decided to give Annabeth a little fun. Cool!**

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**As a heads up, I'll probably be updating about once a week and then after that (when I run out of chapters), I'll update whenever Luna writes another chapter :)**

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_Renxoxox:_ Thanks! Luna did a great job with this story. I love it!

_SaguaroCactus:_ It makes me so happy to hear you're excited! And thanks! :)

_AnnabethLuna:_ Pssh, it was nothing! But you're welcome! :D

_BookWorm77071: _Aw, no problem! It's so fun to post! Thanks!

_Guest:_ Thank you! Hope you didn't mind the wait!

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Steering Leila away from the idiot who had (very ineptly) tried to flirt with us in the hallway proved to be a very difficult task, but I managed to talk her down in the end until, without too much of a fight, she let me drag her into the cafeteria.

There was a pause as we both searched the room for Percy and Nico, but I saw them first. "There," I pointed them out. "Get in line, okay? I'm going to see what the boys want to eat." It was our system – one day the girls would get the food, the next, the boys. Of course, it was a really unfair system, because there's a reason that the teenage boy's appetite is legendary, but oh well. Training to fight monsters tends to give you the strength and balance required to carry large amounts of food.

"Fine," muttered Leila, probably not quite over the longing to beat the moron from the hallway to a pulp. I did wonder about the wisdom of leaving her alone – I swear, sometimes she's worse than Percy, which believe me is saying something – but I was confident enough in my speed to get to her before heads started to roll. As I started to head off, she added, "But tell them if it takes up more than two trays, they're getting their own food."

She had even more experience in the whole teenage-boy-appetite thing than I did, having lived with Percy her whole life. I laughed, "I will," and gave her a gentle shove towards the lunch line.

Leila and I did clash sometimes – we're too much alike not to have our conflicts every now and then – but after Percy and I started dating, she warmed up to me a lot, and we were able to form a close friendship. She felt like the sister I'd never had.

I hurried over to where Percy and Nico were sitting and asked the fateful question: "So, what do you guys want?"

Big mistake. Being the daughter of the wisdom goddess, I am endowed with a stronger memory than most people, but even I couldn't remember everything they ordered. "Are you kidding me?" I exclaimed finally. "Absolutely not! I'll get some of that, but if you want all of it, you're getting it yourself." I may have demigod balance, but there is no way I'd be able to hop across the cafeteria because I had so much food I had to use my feet to carry it as well as my hands.

Nico stuck his tongue out at me and Percy laughed. I just glared at them both and headed back across the cafeteria to Leila. "I am not getting all that food," I informed her.

She laughed. "They should get their own food, anyway."

I wanted to eat, too, though, and didn't want them stealing my food. "I'll get some, but I don't even have enough limbs to carry all the food they want."

As I took a tray from the rack and started to load it up, Leila chuckled again. "Careful, they might eat your limbs if they don't get enough food."

I rolled my eyes, but then noticed something that made me tense up right away.

Reflexes from battle had taught me: always keep one eye on your friends. You never know when something might attack, so I always made sure to keep whoever I was with in my peripheral vision in case I needed to run to help. And a flash of motion at Percy and Nico's table had caught my attention.

A girl. No, two girls, both wearing skimpy clothing and exuding a radar of bad news. Leila stiffened next to me, and I knew she saw it too.

My first instinct was monster, but these girls didn't appear to be attacking. No, in their case it was something much worse. One of the girls was… flirting.

With Percy.

I was debating the merits of dropping the tray, running across the cafeteria, and attacking right there (my knife wouldn't hurt her, but I could still pack a pretty good punch – pun intended – hand to hand), when Leila's voice interrupted my concentration. "Who's that?"

I didn't even have to look at her to know what she was talking about. She had the same instincts that I did, and I knew she would have been watching Percy and Nico, too. "She wasn't there a minute ago," I said stiffly, still glaring in her direction.

"Get me something – a Coke – will you?" asked Leila. I recognized the purpose in her voice and attitude, and decided to leave this one to her – for the time being. Nodding, I turned back to the lunch line, but I wasn't really paying attention to the food that I was adding to the tray. If Percy and Nico had to suffer, too bad for them.

Leila turned and stalked off, and I urged the line to hurry, hurry up. But this time, the line was in my peripheral, and my main vision was focused on Leila sitting next to Percy, shoving one of the girls subtly in the side as she did so, and starting to talk to her brother. I could see her mouth moving at a rapid-fire pace, and Percy start to laugh.

I was up to pay now; I handed over my ID card as quickly as possible and watched the lunch lady swipe it, taking my eyes off of Percy for just a moment. When she finally gave it back to me, I stuffed it into my pocket and hurried – as quickly as I could without dropping the food – back to the table, just in time to hear Nico say, "No one has actually ever seen an atom."

"That's because scientists haven't been able to make a microscope strong enough," I cut in, sitting across from Percy and sliding the tray into the center of the table. Daedalus' laptop actually had some really interesting plans for one, which I'd been planning to study, but I couldn't mention them right now for three reasons.

First, there were mortals around, and not only would talking about a Greek myth confuse them, my main focus at the moment was making them realize that Percy was not up for grabs.

Second, whenever I started talking about Daedalus' laptop, everyone in the immediate vicinity would either roll their eyes or pretend to fall asleep, being the dimwits they are who can't appreciate genius when they see it.

And thirdly, as soon as I sat down, everyone's eyes shot immediately to the tray of food.

The other three dove in right away. I was a bit too slow to respond because I was too focused on keeping myself from slapping the look off of one of the girls' faces. (I can't explain the exact expression; sort of a mixture of insolence and annoyance and entitlement – but it was driving me insane.) Which means that I was left with the food on one else wanted, but I'm not picky. I listened to Percy and Leila fighting over the one Coke on the tray and prepared to intervene, but they managed (somehow) to come to a compromise without me. Now that was shocking.

I grabbed the apple from the tray and was about to take a bite, but then one of the girls cleared her throat and I put it down immediately – if they really did turn out to be monsters, I wanted my hands free. I reached to the side surreptitiously, where my dagger was hidden, and wrapped my fingers around the handle. I saw Percy's hand subtly slide into his pocket where Riptide was, and made a note to congratulate him on appropriate suspicion later. Leila wasn't reaching for her weapon, but she was glaring at the girl pretty intensely, and Nico was too busy stuffing his face. We'd have to have a talk later about his lack of observation. Oh well.

"Can we help you?" asked Leila, but her tone said "Get out of here now before I kill you." Her death stare intensified. I nodded my approval – hanging out with the demigods at camp had really improved her glaring abilities. Not like they weren't already good, but now they were even better.

"Like I was saying," insisted the girl who'd cleared her throat, in a whiny voice that grated on my nerves, "my name is Cara."

I released my dagger. She might be irritating, but monsters were smarter than that. And if she really was a monster, she'd probably ambush us later rather than here. So, more likely, she was just a girl. An obnoxious girl. Who was obviously trying to flirt with my boyfriend . . . You know, I think I'd rather she was a monster.

"And my name's Sophie," trilled the other girl. Her voice was annoying, too – too high and fake-sounding – but not quite as unbearable. And her face was actually visible, rather than caked in make-up like Cara's. So, I liked her a little bit better. Key words: a little bit.

Finally looking up from the pudding he'd been attacking, Nico mumbled, "Okay, bye." Then he turned back to his food. I stifled a laugh, and saw that Leila was similarly amused.

"Wait, where are you from?" asked Cara, baring her unnaturally-white teeth in a creepy approximation of a smile. For Zeus's sake! Did she want our whole life story? I briefly considered saying, "Well, I was born on Mount Olympus," just to freak her out, but decided against that.

"Somewhere smart," growled Leila, and this time I had to cover my mouth with my hand to keep the laugh inside.

"What's your name?" whined Cara, and I had the pleasure of watching Leila's death glare applied again.

Ordinarily, I would have made a smart remark of my own, but Leila had already made an enemy of this girl, and I decided it was better to be friendly until I'd figured out if she was a threat or not. So I decided to break in. Picking up the apple that I hadn't actually eaten, I lobbed it across the table at Leila. "Here, think fast!" She turned away from Cara, snatched it out of the air, and took a bite.

I turned to the other girls and introduced us, ignoring the fact that Leila had turned her glare on me. "I'm Annabeth, this is Nico, and the pests across the table" – I smiled sweetly at Leila – "are Percy and Leila." Cara's vapid smile grew bigger at Percy's name, and I cranked up the volume on mine until I felt like I was shooting beams of fake sunshine all over the room.

"Shut up." Leila whacked me with the back of her hand, but not as hard as she could have. I'd explain my plan to her later – making enemies of them right away as she'd done wasn't the best idea.

A moment of silence – painful, excruciating silence – as I watched Cara watch Percy, and Leila glare at Cara, and Sophie chew on her lip uncomfortably, and Nico scrape his pudding cup clean with the spoon, and then finally – finally – the bell rang and we all sprang up out of our chairs and headed off as fast as we could, leaving the two girls standing stunned in our wake.

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**(A/N: All right guys, the gym scene is next. Love to hear from you guys! It feels gooood to be posting again! Thank you, **_**AnnabethLuna**_**!)**

**Facebook: **_**Completely Shore**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Complicated Disclaimer: We do not own any Percy Jackson or anything else that is Rick Riordan owns. I (Kimby) own the "idea" of Leila. **_**AnnabethLuna**_** decided to give Annabeth a little fun. Cool!**

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_Happy Owl: _Yep! Leila is a character I made up. She's Percy's twin sister. I'm currently working on her side of the Lightning Thief. Anyway, thanks for reviewing :)

_Allen R: _Thanks! Sorry for the delay!

_Ch33tahp4w:_ I love your penname—and sorry for the wait. Thanks for reviewing!

_Banannibo: _Sorry about the wait! I'm glad you like the story though! Thanks :)

_Guest: _Nico is the best! He makes me laugh ;) Anyway, thanks for reviewing!

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As Leila and I pulled off our shirts to change into our gym clothes, I smiled to myself. Just as I'd expected, Leila had forgotten her T-shirt, and in about three seconds she'd ask me if I brought it for her. Three . . . two . . .

"Any chance you brought that top" – one second too early. I was losing my touch. Laughing, I grabbed her gym shirt out of my bag and threw it at her; it landed on her head. "Thanks," came her muffled voice as she pulled the shirt on.

"No problem; I figured you'd forget your T-shirt." I stepped into my tank top in order to pull it on without removing my shirt. We try to change as discreetly as possible in the changing room; our scars might attract attention.

"Well . . ." I could tell from the tone of her voice that she was scowling. "Yeah, I did," she had to admit. "That doesn't mean you'd have to assume that I'd forget."

I laughed. Typical Leila. "All right, all right." I smirked. "I'll let your forget all by yourself next time, Leila."

"Nah," she said, seeming to reconsider. "I'd rather have clean clothes after gym."

I smirked, shutting my locker. I loved this banter, especially now that it was actually friendly rather than cutting. "Of course you would." I checked my wrist for my hair tie and found that it had disappeared – they'd been doing that a lot lately. "You can redeem yourself by loaning me a hair tie, though."

"Sure." Leila handed me a hair tie, and I pulled my hair into a ponytail at the nape of my neck.

"Ready?" I asked, as Leila swung her own hair up into a high ponytail.

"Let's go." Her locker slammed shut.

As we left the locker room, I caught sight of a flash of color behind us. The same two mortals who'd been flirting with Percy at lunch, this time joined by a third girl who I vaguely recognized, were walking out behind us.

" – soccer today," I heard the coach say, just as we reached the field. Soccer wasn't our best sport, but with all our training, we were pretty much guaranteed to be better than all of the other mortals out here.

"They better not be assigned teams." Nico voiced what I'm pretty sure we were all thinking. Sure, it's just a game, but team sports help us practice our coordination and ability to work together, which is always really helpful in battle. We always tried to be on the same team for sports.

We sat down on the bleachers just as the coach ordered us to make our own teams of four. We all looked at each other. Perfect.

"That answers that question," I said unnecessarily, smiling at the others as we headed down onto the field from the bleachers.

"Yeah, looks like we've got our team all set," said Leila, but just as the words left her lips, my eyes were diverted.

"Uh oh," said Nico grimly. He had obviously seen the same thing I had.

The mortal girl. Flirting with Percy. Again.

My jaw tightened. "What nerve," I started to say, but after the first word, my throat locked up so tightly I couldn't get anything else out as she laid her hand on his arm.

I was pretty sure I could guess what she was asking – and Percy's answer, by the way her face fell as he turned and loped back over to us. I took his hand right away, trying to send her the sign that he was mine.

"What did she want?" Leila phrased it as more of a statement than a question. She was obviously just as certain as I was.

"She wanted me to be on her team for soccer." Yep. We were right.

Because of the whole "know thy enemy" concept, Leila and I had always understood each other very well. And once we became friends, our silent communication became almost flawless. So I shot her a look, letting her know that these girls were pushing my limits, and she rolled her eyes back, telling me that she felt the same way.

"Okay," Nico interrupted our silent conversation. "What are our positions?"

Eventually, it was decided that Percy and Leila would play forwards, Nico on defense, and that I would be goalie. I was a little disappointed, knowing that I would be mostly out of the action – with us playing, no ball would even get close to the goal area – but they promised me that next time I could have a more active position.

We won every game. It was easy. Our strength, skill, and coordination easily trounced every other team. I almost never got to touch the ball, which was disappointing – however, I did enjoy wiping the smug look off of the snobby mortal's face when her goal attempt landed in my hands as though magnetized.

"That was fun," said Nico offhandedly as we sat down. I kind of agreed. The playing itself wasn't as much fun as the shocked looks on everyone's faces when we finished.

"I guess so," conceded Leila, but she looked uncertain. As though she was searching for a word. "I just wanted . . . I don't know."

"A bit more of a challenge?" I suggested. Understatement of the century.

"Yes, I definitely wanted more of a challenge." She seemed to agree.

"I think we can assume that this year will be pretty easy," remarked Percy, leaning his head back until it almost touched Leila's knees, right behind him.

Then, the snobby-evil-mortal-group made a beeline for us. I slid a little closer to Percy, twining my fingers with his. Stay away, I tried to warn them with my eyes. It didn't work. (What a surprise)

Cara, the seeming-leader, sat down right next to Percy. And I mean, right next to him. I gritted my teeth and squeezed Percy's hand tighter.

Sophie, the other one who'd been there at the lunch table, started talking. "OMG!" she gasped. (My mouth dropped open. I thought only people in bad movies or text messages said OMG) "You were all so good!"

While I appreciated the compliment, I could have done without the company. And Cara, the one with the whiny voice, just had to talk and make me want to strangle her. (Even more than I already did, I mean) "Yeah, that was fun." Her fake smile was directed right at Percy.

"Thanks," said Percy, looking as though he was trying to shrink into himself. He moved a little closer to me.

I forced the overly-sunny smile back onto my face. "Yeah, thanks!" I said in a voice dripping with sickly-sweetness. I looked pointedly at Leila, but this communication could be read by anyone with eyes. Get her away from him.

She gave me a tiny nod. I've got this. I could tell that she was almost as irritated with these girls than I was – and we'd barely known them for an hour.

Her knees flexed a little bit behind Percy's head, but he wasn't leaning against them anymore, and appeared completely oblivious. She swung her feet just a bit to the side, stretched out one leg – I watched out of the corner of my eye – perfect.

"Where did you learn to play like that?" In attempting to flirt with Percy, the mortal's movement backfired, placing her right in the center of Leila's reach. I watched with a grim smile as Leila planted her foot right in the small of Cara's back – ironically, almost where Percy's Achilles spot was.

In one smooth movement, Leila had slid from her own seat into the one right next to Percy. I met her eyes behind Percy's back, and gave her a discreet high-five. Nico, apparently feeling left out in the back row, moved down to sit next to me.

"Cara!" Her friends were being far too dramatic – she'd been on the lowest bleacher! A fall of two feet, if that.

"You kicked me!" shrieked the mortal, probably attempting to glare at Leila but just looking even more ridiculous than she already did. I rolled my eyes.

"Maybe I did." Leila mimicked her shrill voice, and I smirked a little. Luckily, they weren't looking at me – I didn't want to make outright enemies with them just yet, especially since Leila already had.

"That's okay," said the mortal, her voice even faker than before. "Now if I could just have my seat back" –

I stared. Had she somehow not registered that the whole point of Leila kicking her was to get her off of that seat? She must have been even dumber than she looked.

"Sorry," said Leila, her voice equally fake, "but no." She said the last two words with relish.

"Give me my seat back!" screeched the mortal. Her voice grated on every nerve I had.

"I said no," began Leila, and then took it one step farther, "you ignorant" –

I winced. That might have been slightly overkill; it was a good thing the coach showed up before she could go any further. "Is there a problem here?" He looked bored, as though he couldn't believe his misfortune to have to deal with high-schoolers. Maybe if that professional basketball deal had just worked out –

That was what I imagined he was thinking anyway, and barely stopped myself from snickering.

"Sir," whined the mortal, "she kicked me off the bench and took my seat!"

I thought that the whole tattletale thing ends with elementary school. Have I really been out of public school for so long? Unless she just has a rich daddy and threatens everyone with him or something.

"Leila," sighed the coach, "is this true?"

Leila's eyes widened in mock surprise. I grinned. "I have no idea what she's talking about, sir!" Her voice was so innocent that I almost believed it. Leila is the expert at lying to teachers.

The mortal swelled like a blowfish. "She's lying! She kicked me!"

The coach obviously didn't want to deal with this. "Stop fooling around," he said. "We're almost done with gym, so no fighting. Separate yourselves if you have to." He walked away like this was the most painful thing that had ever happened to him, and I'm pretty sure I heard something about law school. So maybe he hadn't actually wanted to play professional basketball.

"Anyways, where did you learn to play soccer?" asked Sophie eagerly. She was like a little kid who'd been offered a treat – she must have been one of the people who was on the school team.

"We learned at our summer camp," I decided to say. It was the safest answer – part of the truth, so we didn't have to worry about slip-ups, but not the whole truth. And playing soccer is something people at a normal summer camp would do, right?

"Really?" Cara snorted. She looked at me in particular, as though she thought that I was just a stupid girly-girl who cared only about hair and makeup and would never go outside. Probably because she hadn't actually seen me play. I clenched my teeth – I was going to kill them for making me play goalie!

But I just answered, trying to keep my voice as cordial as possible. "Yeah. It's where we met each other – at least," I amended, "it's where Nico and I met Percy and Leila."

"You knew each other before you went to camp?" asked Sophie, looking completely clueless.

That's almost worse than Clarisse was when they first arrived at Camp Half-Blood. Why does it always seem that I'm the only one who can tell that they're siblings?

"Oh, that's cool," said Cara, obviously not getting it.

As the coach announced that we were finished, we all stood up and walked back to the locker rooms together. Leila and I changed quickly and wordlessly, still plagued by irritation, and met the boys back outside, where we checked our schedules.

"Man, I am so done with these girls," groaned Nico. You're not alone, I wanted to say.

"At least you're not the one they're trying to seduce with their evil ways!"

"Shut up, Leila." Did she really think, seeing my face, that right now would be a good time to make a joke? I grabbed Percy's hand again.

"Oh, I was kidding," she said. "They'll get the message and leave us alone eventually." After a slight pause, she added, "Just like everyone else."

"They better."

Percy brought my hand up to his lips and kissed it lightly. Obviously, talking about the girls who were madly in love with him was making him uncomfortable. "What classes do we have next?"

"I've got art class." Nico slid his schedule back into his book bag and rolled his eyes.

"And I've got Greek." Leila had mentioned earlier that it was pretty inaccurate – hopefully it wouldn't be too bad.

"Good luck with that," she laughed. Apparently it was bad. "I have English," – all of our least favorite class; somehow, the teachers never had the courtesy to provide books written in Ancient Greek – "and Percy" – she pulled his schedule out of her purse – "you have history."

"Hold up." Nico held one of his hands up in a "stop" gesture. "You have Percy's schedule?"

"Look," said Leila, "if he had it, he would lose it." True that. "Annabeth would have it, but only I was allowed to take it from the office this morning since we share a last name."

"And DNA," added Nico, which wasn't really necessary.

Finally, I interrupted, eyes on my watch. "Look, we're all going to be really late for class. So can we just pick up this conversation after school?"

Without waiting for their responses, I released Percy's hand, spun on my heel, and headed off down the hall for Greek.

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**(A/N:**** Sorry about the late update! It seems I've caught that flu bug that been going around. I'll post again soon! It might not be on Sunday, but it will be soon. Heads up to my Lightning Thief fanfic-fans, my Beta, AgentCherry-Garcia—bless her—is working on editing my next chapter. She's so amazingly patient and awesome at editing. Anyway, leave **_**AnnabethLuna**_** some love—she deserves it!****)**

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**Facebook page: **_**Completely Shore**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Complicated Disclaimer: We do not own any Percy Jackson or anything else that is Rick Riordan owns. I (Kimby) own the "idea" of Leila. **_**AnnabethLuna**_** decided to give Annabeth a little fun. GOT IT?! Haha :)**

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_allen r:_ Thanks! This story is just one perspective in a series of our favorite demigods in high school. Sadly, this story does not contain tons of Percabeth fluff-but I'm sure you'll see more!

_omega2199:_ Aww, thank you! Luna and I both really appreciate it! :) (Personally, being a writer would be such a dream career for me!) Glad you were excited for an update! We'll write as fast as we can!

_Guest:_ Cara is quite annoying. I mean, I created her and I cannot stand her! Haha! :) Oh my goodness! I KNOW! THAT WAS THE WORST ENDING IN THE HISTORY OF FOREVER!

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I was walking down the hall, hand in hand with Percy, talking about our plans for that night (our first official date in quite awhile), when the hall grew quiet, and we turned around to face the doors.

My jaw dropped.

Walking down the hall was someone I knew. Someone I knew very well, better even than Leila or Percy or my own father. Someone who had always been like a sister to me. Someone I hadn't seen since the Titan War. And someone who, although she often turned up at unexpected times, I would never have expected to see walking into a high school.

Thalia.

She'd grown her hair a little longer since August, and gotten straight-across bangs, but it was definitely her. She was wearing her usual black, but somehow looked more intense than usual, as though she was trying to send mortals a nonverbal keep out. From the stares she was getting, and the way everyone had hushed up as soon as she'd walked in, it was working.

Next to me, Percy looked shell-shocked. "Thalia?" he whispered, looking to me as though for confirmation. I just nodded. "What in Hades' name is she doing here?"

I heard someone down the hall shriek, "Ouch!" and turned to see the three new banes of my existence staring shamelessly. Cara, who I had decided to rechristen "the devil," turned hastily around as though to pretend she hadn't been gaping like one of Poseidon's subjects, but it was pretty obvious. I heard the three of them whispering – or attempting to whisper – about Thalia, but they were pretty loud. I wondered how the girl – Amy, I think her name was – knew who she was. That was a little disturbing.

But I didn't have any time to ponder, because just then, Thalia turned her intense blue eyes on us, and her face broke into a grin. Percy's and mine did the same, and we mobbed her.

"Oh my gods!" I gasped, throwing my arms around her. "What are you doing here?" As mentioned before, a mortal high school was just about the last place I was expecting to see her. She was a Hunter, meaning that she was supposed to be with Artemis and the other girls – unless something had happened?

She was obviously still the lieutenant of the Hunt, as she was still wearing her circlet, but maybe she was coming to warn us of a new prophecy? Was there trouble at camp?

I was just starting to get worried, as she released me and turned to hug Percy, but I relaxed at the exasperated look on her face. If something was really wrong, she would have looked worried.

"Apparently there's some 'law'" – the expression on her face showed how little she cared about the laws – "about a bunch of teenage girls running around in the forest without high school diplomas." She scoffed, and I had to agree. Was there no way for Artemis to get around that? "Anyways," Thalia continued, "when I asked if I could get sent here with you all, Artemis thought that was a good idea." At Percy's questioning expression, she elaborated. "Since all of you probably attract a lot of monsters, too."

I had to agree. With Percy, Leila, and Nico – three children of the Big Three – monsters were pretty much a given. We'd already had three attacks since the start of September. But with Thalia there – another child of the Big Three – wouldn't the monster attacks get worse?

I wanted to ask her that, but then I accidentally caught the mortal's eyes. She was obviously listening in on our conversation. No sense giving her more to go on – I'd ask later.

There was a clatter of footsteps behind us, and someone called Thalia's name. Leila and Nico had found us. "Oh my gods, I can't believe it!" cried Leila, running to hug Thalia as well. Nico just stood there a little awkwardly. Despite them technically being cousins, Nico and Thalia didn't know each other that well.

"Leila, hey!" Thalia grinned.

At first I'd been a little jealous, that Leila and Thalia got along so well, but I guess that's kind of similar to how Leila must have felt when Percy and I became friends. Those are probably the main reasons we used to fight so much – we both felt that someone was trying to steal our sibling away. But then I guess we both relaxed, and realized that there are different kinds of relationships.

Thalia and I have a special bond, one we've had since I was seven and she took care of me like an older sister, and no one can get between that. It's the same with Percy and Leila. My relationship with Percy has nothing to do with stealing him from Leila, Leila's friendship with Thalia has nothing to do with stealing her from me – and once we both finally grew up and realized that, we were able to overcome our differences and become great friends.

My sentimental reverie was interrupted by Leila's voice. "I can't believe you're here!"

"Neither can I," grumbled Thalia, glaring around her, and I had to laugh.

"You're almost as bad as Percy," chided Leila, nudging her. Thalia looked affronted – despite how much alike they are, she hates being compared to Percy. "Come on, it is not that bad!"

Everyone except for me gaped at her. I actually like school. Even if the classes are ridiculously easy and it's filled with snobby mortals – okay, never mind. But still. Her comment didn't warrant such shocked looks.

Instead of backtracking, though – even though she hated school, too – Leila just shrugged. "What? It could be worse."

That was true. We could be fighting for our lives against Kronos, or Typhon, or Hyperion, or . . . well, you get the picture. With that statement, we could all agree.

"I need to run to my locker before first period." Percy interrupted the silent communications. "So can we keep going if you guys are done being girls?"

Thalia slammed her locker shut with unnecessary force, and turned to Percy. Before he could say anything, her hand was in his hair and she was ruffling it like he was a little kid. I hid a smirk. "You totally missed me," she said.

Of course he had – he was just too stubborn to admit it. "He totally did," added Leila as we all headed off in the direction of Percy's locker.

"What's your first class?" I asked Thalia, grabbing Percy's hand with my left hand and combing through my hair with my right.

"Just a second." Thalia's hand was buried in her bag, and I could hear clanking as well as the rustle of papers. How many weapons had she brought with her? "Let me find my schedule."

After a moment had passed, and her hand was still deep in her bag, Nico spoke up. "Bet she lost it already."

"I don't know, it's only the first hour." Leila shook her head, but she was smiling. I had to agree with Nico – with the way Thalia was carrying on about having to be here, it would be no surprise if she had already lost her schedule. But Leila wasn't finished. "She'll probably lose it in first period."

"I'll give it at least till lunch," suggested Percy, and just as I was pretty sure they were all going to start pulling out drachmas and placing actual bets, Thalia pulled her hand out of her bag.

"Got it – you stand corrected!" she said smugly, proud that she had thwarted their expectations. I rolled my eyes – the paper looked as though a hellhound had chewed on it – but took it from her anyway.

"I still say you won't have it by lunch," whispered Percy as I started comparing her schedule to ours.

"Cool," said Percy, upon hearing that she was in his biology class. "We're learning about the ocean in biology, so that should be an easy class this year." He seemed to forget that we weren't all children of Poseidon.

"Unless they get all their facts wrong like in Greek class," countered Leila. All of the classes here were either incredibly easy or incredibly wrong, but Greek was the worst. I nodded in agreement as Leila finished. "Then we're screwed."

"Pretty much." Percy pulled his hand out of mine and applied it to his locker combination.

Leila changed the subject. "So, Thalia, why the heck are you in high school?"

"Complications," said Thalia, but whether or not she was actually explaining her situation was lost to me as something actually started dripping from Percy's locker.

I jumped back in shock – "What is that?" – and watched the whatever-it-was run from the locker and all over the floor. I wasn't sure I really wanted to know – with the mess in Percy's locker, it could have been a monster's lair! Leila seemed to be thinking the same thing, as she pushed Nico in front of her. Poor guy – it seems all of Leila's aggression gets taken out on him.

Still staring wide-eyed at the mess, Leila attempted to pull herself together. "Um," she said, voice a little higher than usual, "where are you staying?"

"I'm not completely sure yet." Thalia hitched her book bag higher up on her shoulder. "Artemis talked about maybe getting me an apartment or hotel room until the end of the semester, since I only need to stay" – So apparently Artemis did have at least some sway over the law, if she only had to be here for a semester.

"No way," cut in Percy. "You're staying with us."

"Yeah, we've got plenty of room," agreed Leila. Nico and I nodded, but didn't say anything – it's not technically our house; Sally had taken us in out of the goodness of her heart, but it wasn't our place to invite someone else.

Thalia raised her eyebrows. "Your mom already has four teenagers to deal with." I suppressed a snort – we had Percy and Nico, who should count double on the obnoxious-teenager scale – as Thalia continued. "I highly doubt she wants another."

It's true that teenage demigods are more trouble than we're worth, but it's Sally Jackson we were talking about here. The most amazing mother in the world. She would take in anyone who needed a home – even the whole of Camp Half-Blood if they wanted it!

Percy must have read my mind, because he said, "Thalia, my mom would take in the entire camp if she had the floor space."

Thalia still looked uncertain, and Leila spoke up. "Look, at least come home with us so we can ask."

"Fine," sighed Thalia, giving in. "But if there's even a little hesitation from your mom" –

"You can find somewhere else to stay," interrupted Percy, cutting her off. I rolled my eyes; that wouldn't happen. Sally would be overjoyed to see her.

The bell rang, and we all deflated a little. Even I, though I like school, would much rather talk to these four for the next period than sit through class. At least I had art, and could probably spend the period working on some designs for Olympus. That wouldn't be too bad.

"I've got math first," groaned Thalia, glowering at the lockers.

"At least you're near your classes." Nico rolled his eyes. "I have to go all the way back down the hall."

"Then get going!" I shooed him on with my hand, and, grumbling, he headed off.

"My first class is near the math rooms," I said to Thalia, "so I can show you the way." As she nodded, I kissed Percy's cheek, said, "Meet you in art," and led Thalia off with one last glance at the puddle on the floor.

"See you!" I heard Leila's voice behind us, and I turned and flapped a hand in her direction as we hurried off down the hall.

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**(A/N: You may have noticed that this scene changed slightly. It changed in _Insiders Know All_, too. I had't worked on IKA for almost a year, so when I recently went back to it, I _had_ to change things. Anyways, did you guys like it or love it or hate it...? Let us know!)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Complicated Disclaimer: We do not own any Percy Jackson or anything else that is Rick Riordan owns. I (Kimby) own the "idea" of Leila. ****_AnnabethLuna_**** decided to give Annabeth a little fun. Woo-hoo! I love coffee :)**

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_HolleyS: _Thanks! And good! I'm glad you like it! :)

_BookWorm77071: _Yay! Thanks! Sorry for the wait.

_TheRealLeilaJackson: _Thanks! I'll still working through school (so updating has definitely been slower) and really appreciate the understanding right now. Thanks again!

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"There you are!"

Percy had lagged behind, still in the school when I met Nico and Thalia out front. They had both been impatient to get home, but I wanted to wait for Percy, so Nico had shadow-traveled Thalia home and I said I'd wait for Percy and Leila. But I was starting to wish I hadn't.

But Percy was coming out of the school now, heading toward me, though for some reason Leila wasn't with him. Odd.

"Is Leila coming?" I asked as he came within earshot. "What held you up?"

He backed away as I reached for him, which is never a good sign. I narrowed my eyes. "Seaweed Brain," I said, hoping my voice sounded as dangerous as I wanted it to. "What's going on?"

"Annabeth . . ." He was cringing. This could not be good.

I glared at him even more fiercely. "What?"

He held up his hands as though pleading. "Let me start out by saying that this is not my fault, and please, please don't get mad at me."

I softened, a little bit. "As long as it's not your fault, then I won't be mad at you," I promised. "But the whole backing-away-from-me part makes me think it is your fault."

"It's not!" he said hastily. "It's not."

"Then spit it out, Seaweed Brain." I was getting impatient.

When he hesitated yet again, an awful thought struck me. I could only think of one person who could bring out this sort of reaction in Percy on the second day of school. "It has to do with the mortal, doesn't it?"

He nodded, looking at his feet, and then said in a rush, "Ivetbehrhstryprojctprtner."

"Percy, I understood roughly none of that."

"I have to be her history project partner," he mumbled.

"_What?_" I repeated.

"The teacher assigned them!" he said, meeting my eyes for the first time and looking panicked. "I promise! The teacher assigned them!"

"All right," I said, but there was no way this could be a coincidence. The girl who randomly decides that Percy belongs to her just _happens_ to be randomly assigned his project partner? Uh uh. No way.

I cast my mind back to this morning. I could have sworn I'd heard her friend talking about Thalia, knowing who she was. There were two possibilities for her knowing this, and both could connect to Percy being assigned this girl as a partner.

The first possibility was that the girl had hacked into the school's computer system and changed the information. Not as difficult as it sounds – I could do it, and I'm not even the best computer hacker in the Athena cabin (Malcolm is, but that's not important right now), and I wouldn't even need Daedalus's laptop. That's how simple the school firewalls are, and they wouldn't be hard to hack.

However, I didn't think that that girl really looked like a computer hacker. (I could be wrong, but I'm usually not) In that case, she must work in the office or have some access to information about students.

I couldn't say this to Percy – he would accuse me of being paranoid – but I was sure that that's what had happened.

"Annabeth!" Leila had arrived, and she proceeded to glare at Percy. "Did you tell her?"

"Yes," I growled, "and she's not happy."

"But I said" –

"I know, Percy, it's not your fault," I interrupted. "I didn't say I was mad at you, did I? No, I'm mad at the situation. And where were you, Leila?"

"I was just giving her our address," she grumbled, looking almost as annoyed as I was.

"Our address – she has to go to our _house?_" I spluttered, but then I realized the alternative and spoke before Leila could do more than open her mouth. "Okay, I know it's better than the alternative. Just – we'll have to be really careful about what she sees, won't we?"

"Yeah." Leila sighed. "Still, I'd rather risk that than risk her seducing Percy in an empty house."

"Hey!" protested Percy, but I had to laugh despite myself.

"Fine," I said. "I just – ugh. The things I want to do to this girl are frowned upon in mortal society!"

"Careful, Annabeth," teased Leila. "I think she wants Percy, not you."

If we hadn't been at school, she would have been dead.

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**(A/N: So this was a short update, but—don't worry!—you're going to get another one in a few days. I won't be late next time, I swear! As always tell ****_AnnabethLuna_**** how awesome she is. Especially since she did this chapter on her own. All her idea and I love it!)**

**Facebook page: ****_Completely Shore_**


	6. Chapter 6

**Complicated Disclaimer: We do not own any Percy Jackson or anything else that is Rick Riordan owns. I (Kimby) own the "idea" of Leila. ****_AnnabethLuna_**** decided to give Annabeth a little fun. Let's do this.**

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_Allen R: _Yeah, not much cute action between Annabeth and Percy right now but I'm sure it will come! Thanks for reviewing!

_Anne: _Thanks! :)

_Ashley Daughter of Apollo: _I'm not going to lie, that is a little sad for me. Reviews constantly encourage me to keep writing, but I also have to remind myself that I write things so people can read it. I definitely like reviews though because they're awesome feedback (even if they just say something simple like "update soon"). Anyways, thanks for the review!

_Bookworm77071: _Thanks! I still can't believe Luna captured her so perfectly! It's crazy but awesome! :)

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"I swear she did it on purpose!" I seethed.

Leila, Thalia and I were in my room, moving an extra bed into it and helping Thalia set up all her possessions. Of course Sally had agreed right away for Thalia to stay with us – I don't think even Thalia was surprised, despite her protestations to the contrary – and she was going to share a room with me. After shoving my bed to the far left side of the room, we'd moved in an old cot Sally had had in storage and begun setting it up with Thalia's sheets.

I, of course, had spent the whole time out of Percy's earshot ranting about the mortal.

"Yes, Annabeth," said Thalia with heavy sarcasm, rolling her eyes, "you haven't already said that five times or anything."

I let out a breath, sank down onto my bed and put my head in my hands. "I know," I moaned, "I'm sorry, it's just – ugh!" I stood back up and started pacing back and forth as Leila tucked in the last corner of Thalia's sheets. "I'm so sick of her, and it's only the second day of school – something tells me we're going to be seeing a lot more of her in the near future."

"Come on, Annabeth," said Leila, shoving me lightly. "Snap out of it. It's just a project."

"No – it's a project every week for the rest of the semester! And you've seen how persistent she is – I just" – I gave up, throwing my hands into the air and letting them flop down onto my lap. "Didn't that girl Amy work for the office last year?"

Leila frowned contemplatively. "You know, I think she did . . ." she said slowly. "Didn't they acknowledge her at that stupid assembly or something last year?"

"Exactly!" I was pacing faster now – part of being ADHD is that we can never sit still, especially when we're worked up about something. "She has access to all those files and she can change things so easily – and you know what kind of people they are! It's not like I'm actually worried, I'm just – just" –

"Annoyed," supplied Thalia. "And Annabeth, please sit down. You're making me dizzy."

I glared at her. "Well, you try being in a state of intense emotional distress and sitting down, Miss Even-More-ADHD-Than-Me," I snapped.

"Stop it." Technically, Thalia was now only a tiny bit older than me, but the way she was talking to me now sent a sharp pang of recognition through me – as though she were still five years older than me and the older sister I used to have. "This isn't our fault."

"I know it's not your fault," I admitted. "I'm just mad."

"I guess it wasn't really fair of me to expect you to sit," conceded Thalia. Which must have pained her to admit.

"But, really, Annabeth," said Leila. "I was there when they planned when to get together. She suggested today, but he turned her down because of your date."

A warm, tingly feeling filled through me at this news. "I'm not mad at him," I said. "Or either of you. I'm mad at her."

Thalia dumped her bag out on the bed and started lining up her bottles of black nail polish on the left side of my dresser. I pushed Daedalus's laptop to the right side of my desk, leaving the other half free for her to put her school stuff there – although I wasn't anticipating much actual work on Thalia's part.

"We know," said Thalia, setting her eyeliner on the dresser. "But speaking of the date, shouldn't you start getting ready?"

"Why should I?" I asked. "I don't have to change clothes, do I?" I didn't think the restaurant was very fancy, and I'd much rather be underdressed and able to fight than well-dressed and dead should a monster decide to attack us. Looking down at my clothes, though, I had to admit she had a point. I'm pretty sure normal mortals don't wear ripped jeans and old T-shirts on dates. "Okay, fine, I guess you're right. But no skirts."

"Annabeth," said Leila, looking at me as though I'd mortally wounded her. "Do you really think that we of all people would try to force you into a skirt?"

I laughed. "Of course not."

"Good." She left the room for a few seconds and came back with a pair of slacks and a light cream-colored top with a delicate pattern of roses. "Just borrow these."

"Wow," I teased, "and I thought 'always be prepared' was only the Athena cabin!"

"Shut up and get dressed."

"Yes, ma'am." I saluted.

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**(A/N: Late again. That's two {or is it three…?} weeks in a row. Gosh, maybe I should just update on Wednesdays! All right, all right, this time, I'll seriously try my best to update ON TIME haha thanks everyone! Share some love to AnnabethLuna and leave a review for her, 'kay? Haha I'll take that as a YES ;] )**

**Facebook page: ****_Completely Shore_**


	7. Chapter 7

**Complicated Disclaimer: We do not own any Percy Jackson or anything else that is Rick Riordan owns. I (Kimby) own the "idea" of Leila. _AnnabethLuna_ decided to give Annabeth a little fun. Bring it on!**

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_Guest: _Thanks! Sorry this chapter didn't have tons of fluff, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!

_Allen R: _Okay, this isn't a huge Percy/Annabeth story-reasons explained in author's note-but I'm sure there's more to come! Thanks for reviewing! :) Free feel to let me know if you have anymore comments or concerns or questions!

_Almost Genius: _Thank you! I absolutely love Annabeth, and Luna did an amazing job at capturing her POV! Thanks again! :)

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I was sitting in my room, packing up for Percy's and my date, when I heard Leila scream.

_"Did you just throw a book at my head?_"

This could not be good. Dropping my bag on the bed, I jumped up and went to the doorway to hear better. Not like I needed to – the yelling was filling pretty much the whole house, and Nico and Thalia's heads poked around the corner to listen, too.

"You were laughing at me!" yelled Percy. Part of me wanted to smirk – the last time Percy'd said those words to me, I'd been rewarded with a kiss rather than a book at the head – but as the voices got louder, I realized the situation was a bit too serious for that.

"Yes, because you are being ridiculous!" cried Leila. "Annabeth and I are getting along, Percy – SO WHAT?" My mouth fell open – was Percy seriously jealous of his sister about me? "STOP BEING SUCH A BABY!" continued Leila, "Gods, learn how to _share_!"

Time to let them know that everyone in the whole house could hear them – I slammed the door to my (and now Thalia's) bedroom as hard as I could and listened as the hallway got silent.

This was an interesting new state of affairs. Percy, Leila and I had been in a _lot_ of arguments with one person caught in the middle – but it'd never gone this way before. Usually it was either Leila and me fighting over Percy or Percy and Leila fighting over me – but in that case, it was always about Leila's jealousy, never Percy's.

Even though the whole situation was annoying, a warm glow seemed to spread throughout my body. I loved having friends, especially ones as good and loyal as these.

"Now you've done it." Percy's voice was muffled with the door shut, but I could still hear it. Footsteps echoed in the hallway outside my room as Percy came over and knocked on the door. "Annabeth, open the door," he coaxed from outside.

I didn't open it. It was time we put an end to these ridiculous fights, one way or another, and if I had to be the one doing it, then I would.

"Come on, Annabeth!" Percy's voice sounded more desperate. "Please talk to me."

It was kind of sweet – but he had to know I wasn't going to break up with him over this. I decided to let him stew for a bit, though. I'd come out when he made up with Leila.

I heard murmured voices coming from the twins' room – Leila explaining the situation to Sally. Percy joined them a moment later, sulking. "She won't come out of her room."

I wondered what they thought I was doing in here – crying or stabbing pillows or making voodoo dolls? Their answers might have been amusing. I continued to pack my bag for Percy's and my date – which I was absolutely not canceling – and listen avidly to the conversation.

"You two need to stop fighting." Thank you, Sally. That was exactly what I wanted to say. "Especially around people that love you. Annabeth cares for you both so much – she must hate to see you fight."

Which was true – especially when it was about me. I did understand where Percy was coming from, though – I also felt like we hadn't had enough alone time. I made a note to spend more time with him – maybe we should start a tradition similar to mine and Leila's Starbucks runs. A half-hour walk-slash-monster-sweep every night, maybe – no matter how much better Leila and I get along, Percy will always be my favorite person to fight with.

The Jacksons continued to talk, and I continued to pack. Before we left camp, I'd had some Hephaestus and Hecate campers team up to make me something (since they kind of owed their lives to Percy and me) – a tiny drawstring bag which could fit into a pocket but could also hold far more than it let on. Currently, I was packing it with the necessities – you know, an extra dagger, just in case, a canteen of nectar, a few gold drachmas – everything a demigod on a date needs.

Then there was another tap on the door. "Annabeth, sweetie," said Sally's gentle voice. Gods, I love that woman. Almost as much as I love her son. (Don't tell him that, though) "Can I come in?"

I opened the door just enough for Sally to enter but not enough that Percy or Leila could see me. "Hi, Sally," I said, patting the bed next to me.

She sat down and put an arm around me. "Are you really mad at them?" she asked. Too perceptive, as always.

"Sort of." I shrugged. "I just figured that no one could really give them the message to stop fighting better than I could – I'll do this every time if it helps the message to sink in."

Sally laughed. "I figured you'd have some sort of plan. You are Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, after all." She gave my shoulders a squeeze. "But I think enough is enough. Percy and Leila are on the way to making up, and Percy's going to get _yet another_ gray streak" – she pointed at the one in my hair – "if you keep this up. Come on."

I melted. Sally tends to have that effect on people. "All right," I conceded, standing up. "Thanks for calming them down."

"No problem." Sally patted my arm lightly and stood up with me, and we both headed out of the room.

I stopped outside Percy and Leila's door to listen and see if they'd made up yet. I got there just in time to hear Leila say, "We're a bunch of teenagers who have been through a lot and know a little bit too much about each other – we were bound to crash and burn sometime." Hearing Leila – Leila Jackson of all people – say something perceptive and wise shocked me more than I would ever tell her, and I paused for a moment to see if I would hear anything else quote-able.

Percy seemed to be giving in. "And we knew Mom would say yes to Thalia staying here with us, but I guess this isn't really fair to her."

At that moment, Sally came up quietly behind me and handed me a plate of fresh blue cookies. I grinned – the perfect way to get them both to calm down.

"Then," said Leila decisively, "for Mom's sake, I guess we're going to have to stop fighting so much."

"Fine," said Percy, faking exasperation. "Just for Mom."

When I heard him laugh, I decided it was safe, and I pushed open the door. "You two finished yet?" I asked, settling on the bed next to Percy. His arms came up seemingly instinctively to wrap around my shoulders and pull me closer.

"I still might kill him." Leila nudged me with her knee, and I rolled my eyes but smiled all the same.

"I know, but fight the urge, okay?" I'd miss Percy if she killed him – not that I would ever admit it to him. As he opened his mouth, I covered it with my hand. "No – this is my turn to talk. You two have done enough screaming for the day." I turned to meet their eyes, first Percy's, then Leila's. "I want you guys to know…" There were a lot of things I could have said there, but most of them would not be appreciated by anyone other than another Athena child. Finally, I just decided to say, "You're both going to drive me completely insane. And," I produced the plate Sally had given me, "I brought fresh cookies."

As they dived into the plate, the door opened again and Thalia and Nico entered. From the way their eyes immediately sought out the cookies, I guessed that Sally had told them to come in here if they wanted any. As they made a beeline for the plate, Thalia said, "Sounds like the war is over."

"Since when did our room become the place to hang out?" objected Percy, shifting the cookies a tiny bit away from Nico and Thalia. I muffled a laugh in my hand.

Eyes following the cookies like a cat with a laser pointer, Nico said, "Dude, you have cookies. We gather with the food."

"Might as well get comfortable," sighed Thalia, throwing herself onto Leila's bed next to us, one of her feet narrowly missing Leila's head.

"Get off!" shrieked Leila, flinging herself to the side as though to avoid more flying limbs. "Thalia Grace, if you kill me, I'll haunt you until the day you die!"

That made me laugh – Thalia would be haunted for an extra-long time, in that case. "She's totally serious," I threw in, watching Leila flail her legs in the air.

"Get your immortal butt off my bed!" yelled Leila again, one of her feet almost connecting this time. In jumping away, Thalia overbalanced and tumbled off the end of the bed.

I looked down, concerned for a moment that she'd gotten the wind knocked out of her with the way she was wheezing, but as I saw her face, and her messed-up hair, I realized that she couldn't talk because she was laughing too hard.

And at that point, I couldn't help but join in.

* * *

**(A/N:** **On time! Yes! I think I'm getting better at this!  
Ok, I think I need to clear something up. This story was given as gift by the awesome _AnnabethLuna_ to ****simply be Annabeth's POV of my stories _From the Outside_ and _Insiders Know All_. There might not be a ton of Percy/Annabeth stuff going on 'cause it's mostly about Annabeth's opinion of the entire situation going on in FTO and IKA.**

**Anyways, ****I haven't finished the next part of **_**Insiders Know All**_** so as a WARNING I might not update next week. I'll try my best to update ASAP, though. Talk to you soon and remember to leave a note for **_**AnnabethLuna**_**!)**

**Facebook page: _Completely Shore_**


	8. Chapter 8

**Complicated Disclaimer: We do not own any Percy Jackson or anything else that is Rick Riordan owns. I (Kimby) own the "idea" of Leila. _AnnabethLuna_ decided to give Annabeth a little fun. Time for some fun!**

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"Annabeth?"

Percy called my name, his voice a ways down the hall. I finished throwing everything into my drawstring bag, stuffed my Yankees cap into my pocket, and emerged from my room slinging the little bag over my shoulder.

"Hey." I pecked him once on the lips. "Ready?"

"Yeah." He slid one arm around me (I don't have an overprotective brother to worry about, unlike Leila – Malcolm stays at camp and doesn't have to worry about that) and we headed for the door. Our reservations were for five, and I like to get an early start, so we were heading out an hour early to give us ample time for monster-fighting and sneaking kisses along the way.

As we reached the door, Sally intercepted us. "Have fun, you two," she said, giving us both a kiss on the cheek and squeezing my hand. "I'll keep these three from blowing up the apartment while you're gone."

"Please do," I laughed. "Daedalus' laptop is here, and I'd really hate for it to get destroyed."

"Nice to know you think so much of us," pouted Thalia.

"Oh, shush." I rolled my eyes at her. "See you guys later!"

"You totally will – you can't get rid of us that easily!" said Leila.

Breaking away from Percy's side for a moment, I shoved her lightly, but couldn't help grinning. Then, waving at the others behind us, Percy and I headed out the door.

As soon as the outside door had been shut behind us, we both let out a sigh. "Alone at last!" said Percy in an overly-dramatic voice, and he leaned in to kiss me – our first uninterrupted kiss since – well, possibly since ever. Between interfering demigods at Camp Half-Blood and at home, we hadn't really gotten much time alone.

Then, of course, we were interrupted.

"PDA!" yelled a voice from above.

From above?

Leila, Nico, and Thalia were hanging out the Jacksons' living room window, a few stories up, making faces down at us.

"Shut up!" I yelled, and Percy didn't even bother – he just made an obscene gesture at his sister and pulled me back in.

When we finally broke apart, for real this time, the window was closed and Percy looked thoroughly dazed. I wasn't too far behind him, but I managed to keep my wits about me.

"Come on, Seaweed Brain," I chided, lacing my fingers with his. "Any more detours like that and we won't make our reservations after all."

"Who cares about the reservations?"

I shut him up in the most effective way possible.

* * *

Once we were finally back on track (which took awhile – it was a good thing I'd planned us some cushion time), we left the sidewalk in front of his apartment to start actually walking to the restaurant.

Naturally, things couldn't go according to plan.

Forty-five minutes, two hellhounds, three _dracaenae_, and one very-badly-timed IM from Butch, one of the new Iris campers (he wanted help with a structural problem with their cabin) later, we stumbled into the restaurant, barely on time for our reservations and looking much more disheveled than I would have liked to. One thing I could say for Leila – her choice of monster-fighting-dressy clothes was fantastic. The clothes were very soft and mobile, and I hadn't had to do them any harm in order to slice up monsters. They had gotten a bit dusty, but that couldn't be helped.

The restaurant was semi-fancy – not quite white-tablecloth level, but with dim lighting and a white rose in a vase on the table. We were seated at a table for two in the corner (which neither of us really liked, as it could make escape difficult, but it couldn't be helped), perusing our menus. Or, I was perusing mine, and explaining to Percy that no, that was not NNEPE TSAPA, but rather, penne pasta.

Once I had decided what I wanted to eat, I wriggled my foot out of my ballet flat under the table and ran it lightly across Percy's ankle. At some point last summer, the Aphrodite cabin had sat me down and given me a talk about "hot moves" to pull on guys on a date, and although the talk had felt like torture at the time, now I was finding it quite useful, as evidenced by the goose bumps that I could see rising on Percy's arms. I tried to stifle my laughter, but it didn't really work.

He tried to glare at me, but his face grew slack as I brushed my foot against his leg again, and this time, I couldn't hold back the giggles.

"Stop that," he said, trying to sound stern. "I still can't read this stupid menu."

"Really a shame that the _Italian_ restaurant doesn't have the courtesy to publish its menus in Ancient Greek, isn't it?" I remarked, smirking. "Just tell me what you want and I'll tell you if it's on the menu."

Once we'd ordered (Coke and fettuccine alfredo for Percy, iced tea and ravioli for me), and the waiter had cleared away our menus, Percy reached across the table for my hand, and we both got quiet for a moment.

One of the things I really love about Percy is that we don't need to talk. We have sort of a mutual understanding that goes deeper than just conversation. And at the moment, I knew he was thinking about Silena, Beckendorf, Michael, and all the others who had died in the war this summer and before. I gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

"You know," I said softly, "if Silena were here, she'd be smacking me on the arm over and over and saying, 'I told you so.'"

He gave a half-forced, half-genuine laugh. "Did she really know?"

"I think everyone did," I said, "much as I hate to admit it. You were the last one to catch on, Seaweed Brain. The epitome of _oblivious._"

"I am not oblivious!" he protested.

"Percy." I stared at him. "I _kissed_ you. A year before we started dating. _You _were the one who was behind."

"I" – He tried to defend himself, but slumped back in his chair. "Okay, fine, I'm hopeless. But at least we can make up for lost time now, right?"

He leaned hopefully across the table, but just before our lips touched, someone cleared his throat and we turned around to see the waiter holding two plates and looking distinctly uncomfortable. We both turned as red as Apollo's sacred cows and leaped back in our seats, stuttering random words. The waiter just gave us one amused glance, set the plates down, and turned away.

After that, conversation was muted for awhile as we both dug into our food. The ravioli was really good, and judging by the contented noises Percy was making, his fettuccine was as well. I kind of wondered if we shouldn't sacrifice some of the food to the gods (it might appease my mother, especially since we were on a date at the moment), but as all the restaurant had were candles and it might look a little odd to be throwing pasta onto the candlesticks, I decided to pass on that idea and give her a little extra next time I was at camp.

Once we'd eaten all we could hold (the portions were _huge_ here) and put the rest in boxes, we started contemplating dessert (Hey, you don't go on dates every day, and besides, we'd earned it with all those monsters on the way!), and finally decided to split an ice cream sundae. Between mouthfuls of vanilla we talked some more, just about normal lighthearted things like Leila's relationship with Will and the new cabins at camp. We did, however, avoid the subject of the mortal. I didn't want her ruining my evening with Percy the way she'd already ruined so much else.

Finally, stuffed and clutching our boxes filled with yet more food, we paid the bill and stood up to go.

When we were out of sight of the mortals in the restaurant, I opened up my drawstring bag and fit the boxes inside. Then, just for fun, I took my Yankees cap out of my pocket and put it on.

"Annabeth!" cried Percy. "That's no fair!"

"You better be careful," I teased. "All the mortals will just see a random lunatic standing on the sidewalk talking to thin air." Then I leaned forward and kissed him deeply on the lips.

As soon as his hands reached out for me, though, I ducked under then and resituated myself behind him. He was still flailing his arms around in front of him where he thought I was when I ducked in close and pressed my lips to the back of his neck, watching with pleasure as all the hair at the nape of his neck rose up and he spun around.

This time I wasn't fast enough to avoid him, and his hand brushed across my head, knocking my cap off. Before I could grab it, he had snatched it up and stuffed it on his own head.

Well, I knew I had no hope of catching him now. Unfortunately for Percy, I'm a much better strategist than he is, and I just stood and waited until his lips touched my cheek – then I whipped my hand out and snagged the hat from off his head before he could blink, slapping it back on my head.

"Aw, come on, Annabeth," he whined. "Take off the hat."

"But isn't it more fun this way?" I breathed in his ear, kissing his earlobe and then ducking out of the way again.

It went on like this for awhile before he managed to tug the hat off my head again. (We were just lucky it'd grown dark outside and no one was here to see us. Although I guess the Mist would cover us if they did) This time, instead of touching me or kissing me, he simply scooped me up, invisible, and held me threshold-style before starting to run.

Shrieking with laughter and indignation in equal parts, I was soon as out of breath as he was, but I made no move for the hat. I think it surprised him, but after awhile, when he'd finally let his guard down, I reached out and grabbed it off his head once again.

"Hey!" Panting, he stopped and let me down.

We were now in a park not too far from our apartment where no one could see us, and as soon as he set me on the ground, I slipped the cap back onto my head, tapped him on the shoulder, and said, "Tag!" Then I took off running.

"No fair, Annabeth!" he protested.

"All right, fine," I acquiesced. I took my cap off, stuck it back in my pocket, made sure it was secure, and then smacked Percy's shoulder again. "You're it!"

This time, he chased after me.

* * *

Once we were both thoroughly out of breath, sweaty, and exhausted, we decided it was probably time to head back. Sliding my fingers through Percy's again, I tugged him toward the entrance (or exit) of the park.

Laughing and panting, we finally made it back to the apartment, staggered up the stairs, and practically fell through the doorway.

Nico and Thalia were there to greet us. "You're back," said Thalia, in her usual oh-so-friendly manner.

"Yes, we are," I gasped. Lifting my hair from the back of my neck with one hand and fanning my sweaty face with the other, I added, "And I'm going to change."

Leila's clothes were comfortable, but my T-shirt and sweats were even more so, and after splashing water on my face and pulling my hair into a messy bun, I headed into the other room where the others were crashed out on the sofa, watching a movie.

"Where's Leila?" I asked, settling down next to Percy and resting my head on his shoulder.

"Will showed up to sur-priiise her," said Nico in a mocking tone. "They went out together."

"They better not stay out too long," grumbled Percy.

"Oh, let your sister be," I teased, poking him. "She let us go out, didn't she?"

"That's different," he protested.

"How?" asked Thalia.

"It – well," Percy stumbled for a moment, "it just is, okay?"

We laughed, and I nudged his shoulder with my head. "Oh, whatever."

He didn't say anything, just leaned in to press his lips against my hair. Thalia and Nico pretended to gag.

I rolled my eyes.

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**(A/N:** **Late. Again. Ah, well. I tried. Anyways, I'm on vacation for Spring Break so I will NOT update next week. Sorry, but happy holidays everyone! Hope had/have a good break from school! Make sure you let Luna know how much you loved this chapter!)**

**Facebook page: _Completely Shore_**


	9. Chapter 9

**Complicated Disclaimer: We do not own any Percy Jackson or anything else that is Rick Riordan owns. I (Kimby) own the "idea" of Leila. **_**AnnabethLuna**_** decided to give Annabeth a little fun. Are you ready for this?**

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_Howlsong12_: Thanks! Glad you liked it!

_Omega2199_: Luna does an awesome job at Annabeth's POV and I have to say, that last chapter was pretty awesome haha thanks for reviewing!

_Ch33tahp4w_: Thanks! :) And yeah, Percy makes me laugh haha. It's fun seeing him as a brother.

_TheRealLeilaJackson_: Yay! I'm glad to hear it. I know she really appreciates hearing from you guys. Hope you like this chapter!

_AllenR_: I'm happy you liked it! I really enjoyed reading this chapter, too. It was a fun break from the crazy mortal stuff. Unfortunately, I think this is the maximum fluff-load for this story. Sorry.

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"Is she coming home with us after school?" asked Leila.

"No," answered Percy, "she said she wasn't going to school today, so we were meeting at six."

"Not going to school?" I interrupted. "The third day of school and she's not going? Why on earth not?"

"Weren't you guys talking about Homecoming when I got there?" asked Leila.

"Right!" Percy snapped his fingers. "She was going shopping for a Homecoming dress."

These words actually rendered me speechless – I opened and closed my mouth a few times, but no sound came out. Finally, I managed to get my point across. "School – skipping – dress – buy – Homecoming – but – I – how - ?"

Leila looked almost as disgusted as I was. "I hate school," she said, "and even I wouldn't do that."

"Because she's a moron!" I burst out. "How in Hades' name can Homecoming and Percy be more important to her than her education?"

"Hey!" Percy looked offended.

"Sorry," I said, taking his hand. "You know what I mean. She doesn't care about you as a person, she just wants you because she thinks you'd look good together."

"I'm more important than education," he protested, still hung up on my first point.

"Well," I said, giving him a quick peck on the lips and opening the door so we could all head out of the house. "You are to me, but that's because I actually know you."

He stopped short and turned to face me. "You care about me more than education?"

Thalia and Leila burst out laughing. Great. I knew they were going to blackmail me with this. "Yeah, Annabeth," snorted Leila. "A daughter of Athena cares more about Percy than about education?"

"Oh, shut up." I tugged on Percy's hand until he started moving again. "And don't let it swell your head any more than it already is."

"But," Thalia said, returning to the original point, "we'll have time after school before she gets here, right?"

"Yeah," I said. "Why? Did you guys not demigod-proof your rooms last night like I told you to?"

Nico stared at me incredulously. "We're too lazy to do things when you tell us to."

"Yeah," agreed Leila. "We like to put things off until the last minute."

"Fine," I said, rolling my eyes – it was no use arguing with them about this – but that means we won't have too much time to shop for Homecoming stuff."

"Oh, right," said Leila, "that's tomorrow, right?"

I could see the school building in the distance already. "Yeah. You're going, right?"

"Well, I don't know . . ." We'd tried to get Will a guest pass to come to the dance, but it turned out that we were too late and would have had to do it before school started, and Leila had been dubious ever since.

"Oh, come on," I pleaded. "You know the devil will be there, and I don't think I can handle her without some moral support."

"What am I, chopped hellhound?" protested Thalia.

I wrinkled my nose. "Thalia, that's disgusting. I don't think mortal sayings really work out with Greek mythological monsters. Also, chopped hellhound isn't possible – it'd be dust by the time you could chop it."

"Shut up and let me have my fun," said Thalia, "or I won't go to Homecoming either."

"Fine, fine!"

At this point we had reached the school, and with quick good-byes we separated to head to our respective classes.

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**(A/N:**** Sorry, guys. I'm super swamped right now with studying for upcoming finals and life just doesn't want to be very nice right. Leave some love for **_**AnnabethLuna**_**—and another chapter of **_**Watching Among Them**_** and **_**Insiders Know All**_** will come soon!)**

**Facebook page: **_**Completely Shore**_


	10. Chapter 10

**Complicated Disclaimer: We do not own any Percy Jackson or anything else that is Rick Riordan owns. I (Kimby) own the "idea" of Leila. ****_AnnabethLuna_**** decided to give Annabeth a little fun. **

**Let's get on with it!**

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_Allen R:_ Thanks for the feedback! Glad you liked it!

_Fem Percy:_ Haha! Thanks! It was fun writing from the mortal's perspective, but hearing Annabeth's side has been fun, too (at least it's been fun for me, haha!)

_Shalalalalalala_: Thanks! I'll pass along the message to Luna :)

_Lunacchi_: Aw, I'm glad you like it! Thanks for reviewing! I hope you continue to enjoy this story ;)

_Some random slytherin_: Sorry the update took so long! Thank you for reviewing, though! (By the way, I like your penname, but I'm a gryffindor... I hope this doesn't effect your love for Luna's story!)

_OrangeFace99_: Haha, thanks! And I always leave things for the last minute, too. Procrastination will be my downfall one day. (My friends tell me that I'll probably be late for my own funeral. I don't think that's such a bad thing, but moving on...) Thanks again!

Awesomegirl: I'm glad you like it! Thanks for reviewing!

* * *

After school, we headed home as quickly as possible (with the shadow-traveling help of Nico and Mrs. O'Leary), so that we could hide everything in the house demigod-related for the mortal's visit later. Leila also decided to change her clothes, because she had talked to Will and arranged to meet him today. (I refrained from teasing her about it, for the most part. I think I only made two jibes, which I was pretty proud of)

I hid Daedalus's laptop in my desk and then padlocked the drawer shut; Nico shoved his sword into his closet; Thalia and I all piled our weapons (except for my dagger, which I kept on me at all times, and her bow and arrow, which could melt in and out of existence) into a bag and hid it under my bed; and Percy and Leila packed up all our scrapbooks and books written in ancient Greek and hid them under their bed. Or, they said they did, anyway – their room was the only one I didn't have the chance to check, as we had to go or risk being late.

Once we were at the mall, we split up. Leila went to wait at the fountain, where she'd arranged to meet Will. I offered to wait for her, but she waved me on, telling me to go find a dress.

Unlike some people, I am able to actually shop and find a dress in less than six hours. It actually didn't take long before I found a dress that fit me perfectly – long and modest, but with slits in the sides to allow for freedom of movement, and a similar color to Percy's eyes, if a little darker.

Leila had spent the whole time waiting for Will, but neither Percy or I wanted her to miss out on Homecoming. So I set out finding a dress for her, as well. I knew her sizes as well as I knew my own.

I finally ended up finding a dress that I thought fit her pretty well – almost as long as mine, but with the same slits – it was even more important for Leila's legs to be free than for mine – and a deep pink that would contrast well with her hair.

Percy had been waiting for me (he was going to borrow a suit from Paul/Mr. Blofis – I am never sure what to call him – and didn't need to shop), and once I had paid for the dresses, we headed for the Food Court, where we wanted to meet the others.

Spotting an open table for six, we claimed it before anyone else could, sitting across from each other so that we could see pretty much everywhere. Being in such crowded places made us nervous – it wasn't always easy to tell who was a monster and who wasn't, and without Rachel or Grover with their extra senses, we were even more vulnerable. I let out a sigh of relief when I spotted Leila and Will coming over, Leila looking miffed about something.

"Hey, Will!" I got up to hug him – I hadn't known him too well before the Titan war, but afterwards I'd gained a lot more respect for him. It tends to happen when someone heals you from a life-threatening injury. Actually, I think me taking that knife for Percy was a spur in a lot of relationships.

Leila was still glaring. "Annabeth," she said, "she's here."

The way she said "she" didn't leave any doubt in my mind who she was talking about. From the way Leila was glaring, I could figure out why she was so annoyed. "She didn't make a move on" – I looked at Will surreptitiously, but he was too busy greeting Percy.

Leila nodded grimly. "She did."

"Do you think she's switched her focus?" I asked. "Or is she just mad at you?"

"Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure Percy's still her main target."

"Me, too," I sighed. "I would say it was wishful thinking, but I think I'm probably better able to handle her going after my boyfriend than you would be."

"Hey," Leila started, but then realized I was right. "Okay, fine."

I laughed, but our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Thalia and Nico. They'd been doing more things together lately, for a few reasons, the first one being that they really didn't know each other all that well. But – and maybe more importantly – they both had a connection to Bianca, Nico's sister, than any of us did, and they'd been talking a lot about her lately. Just superficial things like her favorite color and her skill with the bow and that sort of thing, but still. It seemed to be helping Nico come to terms with his sister's death a lot better.

Anyway, Thalia and Nico arrived, carrying bags of their own, and greeted Will before settling down at the table beside us.

"So," I asked, perusing the menu (I was the best at reading normal English, with much more practice than the others), "what do you guys want?"

Usually that's a mistake, but since I didn't have to carry it all this time and Sally had given us extra money for food, I didn't care one bit.

When we'd finished eating, we still had a few hours before the mortal was going to come over. After a moment of us all staring at each other, Nico asked, "So what are we going to do now?"

Percy and Leila's eyes met, and identical evil grins appeared on their faces. "How far can you shadow-travel, Nico?"

"Why?" asked Nico suspiciously.

"Let's go," began Percy.

"To the beach!" finished Leila.

We all stared at each other once more before a half-smile appeared on Thalia's face. "Why not?"

* * *

**(A/N: So Luna came up with most of the dialogue for this chapter all by herself, and I completely forgot to put that in my last chapter of ****_Insiders Know All_****. I feel terrible about it! BUT I'm putting it here and in writing an author's note about it in my next chapter of ****_Insiders Know All_**** to try and make up for it. Thanks for reading! See you soon ;] )**

**Facebook page: ****_Completely Shore_**


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